16th century. Brown calf leather, gilt stamped with rectangular panels, and in the centre a Tudor rose within the Garter motto. Metal clasps.

Provenance

The Cistercian nunnery of Stixwould, Lincolnshire., founded c. 1135 by Lucy, Countess of Chester: the contents pertain to the convent and the binding has a Tudor rose within the Garter motto, surmounted by a crown, presumably with reference to the nunnery's brief existence as a royal foundation of Premonstratensian nuns, 1537-1539. Documents relating to Lincolnshire from 13th to 16th century have been added in several hands (ff. 110-124).'Willm: Welcome' inscribed in a hand of the ?17th century (f. ix verso).John Coventry, second son of Thomas, Baron Coventry, Lord Keeper (b. 1578, d. 1640), belonged to him in the 17th century (see Dugdale's Catalogue: Bodleian Library, MS Dugdale, 48, f. 58v).The Barons and Earls of Coventry, latterly at Croome Court, near Worcester, their sale, Sotheby's, London, 25 October 1948, lot 127. Bought by the British Museum.

Notes

Part 1: The contents comprise transcripts of private and occasional royal, episcopal and other charters relating to the priory, arranged by places, and usually omitting the names of witnesses. A leaf is wanting, with loss of text, between ff. 58 and 59. The latest dated charter in the original hand is an agreement with Croyland Abbey in 1263 (f. 107). The additions (ff. i, 101-102v, 110-124v), in a number of hands, mostly 13th century, are mainly of 12th- and 13th-century deeds, but include a 15th-century terrier or land survey of the grange of North Stoke, Lincolnshire (f. 123).Part 2 is a former pastedown, now folded to form a bifolium, so that the order of the text is f. ix verso, f. viii recto, ix recto, f. viiii verso. The text of the Roman de Toute Chevalerie corresponds to lines 9198-9309 of Durham Cathedral MS C.IV.27B.

Select bibliography

The British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1946-1950 (London: British Museum, 1979), pp. 148-49.